Intel Fab 62 in Arizona Begins Tool Installation, Targets End-2028

Intel said on Oct. 21, 2026 (Oct. 22 in Korea, where TheElec is based) that construction and tool installation at Fab 62, the sixth high-volume fab at its Ocotillo campus in Arizona, are fully underway and operations should begin by end-2028.

Intel Foundry's chief technology and operations officer, Naga Chandrasekaran, who is also an executive vice president, made the announcement in a post on Intel's newsroom, which Tom's Hardware and TheElec both reported. The post gives no process node, wafer capacity, cost or customer for Fab 62. Intel began building Fab 52 and Fab 62 at Ocotillo in 2021, and Fab 52 has been mass-producing chips on Intel 18A since late 2025, TheElec reported.

Tool installation is the step between a finished building and the first wafers. The Next Web wrote that filling a plant with tools is the costliest step in readying it, with some machines costing hundreds of millions of dollars. That bill falls inside a 2026 spending plan that Intel raised in July to more than $20 billion, with significantly more expected in 2027, according to The Next Web. The Next Web, citing Bloomberg, put analyst expectations for TSMC's 2026 spending at about $60 billion. Intel has not said how much of its budget goes to Fab 62. Every source puts the start of Fab 62 operations in 2028, so the fab adds no wafers before then.

Which Node Fab 62 Will Run Is Not Confirmed

TheElec wrote that Fab 62 is expected to use Intel 14A, the node after 18A. Intel's post names no node. Tom's Hardware reported that Intel has not officially assigned 14A to the fab, though the site has been discussed as a candidate, and that Intel's roadmap would let Fab 62 make chips on 18A, its 18A-P variant or 14A. Voltgrid treats the 14A link as unconfirmed.

The choice decides what the fab is for. Fab 52 already runs 18A, so an 18A assignment would add capacity on a process already in volume, while 14A would bring the next node to Arizona. In a June 17 roadmap analysis, Tom's Hardware listed Fab 62 as unassigned and 18A-capable, and wrote that a committed 14A volume customer would give the fab its job. It quoted CEO Lip-Bu Tan saying in January 2026 that prospective 14A customers would make firm supplier decisions from the second half of 2026 into the first half of 2027.

Where Fab 62 Sits Among Intel's US Sites

The same Intel post said the first major structural truss is in place on the first fab at Ohio One in New Albany. Tom's Hardware noted that Intel gave no new Ohio schedule. As Voltgrid reported, citing ServeTheHome, Intel told the Ohio Department of Development in February 2025 that it expected operations at the first Ohio fab in 2030-2031. On those dates Fab 62 would start roughly one to two years ahead of Ohio's first fab, which makes Arizona the nearer source of new Intel capacity.

What Is Not Confirmed Yet

Intel has not said which node Fab 62 will run, when high-volume production will start, how much capacity it will have or what it will cost, Tom's Hardware reported, and its post names no customer. The Next Web, summarizing Bloomberg, gave early 2028 as the start date; Intel's own post says operations begin by the end of 2028, and Voltgrid uses Intel's wording. As of Oct. 25, Voltgrid found no later Intel statement changing the node or the date.

Intel reports third-quarter results on Oct. 29, 2026 after the market closes, with a call at 2 p.m. PDT, according to the company's investor-relations notice. A Fab 62 node assignment or a capital-spending update there would be the next hard data point.